The North Carolina Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s order from taking effect on Monday that would have required tens of thousands of people who voted in 2024 to verify their eligibility. The higher court stayed that order while it considers an appeal in a long-running dispute over the election.
The ruling on Monday is the latest twist in a five-month battle over a seat on the very same State Supreme Court. Justice Allison Riggs, the Democratic incumbent, won the election in November over Judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican challenger, by 734 votes.
Judge Griffin has challenged the result, seeking to dismiss the ballots cast by roughly 65,000 people. He has argued that a majority of them were ineligible to vote because they did not supply certain required identification data when they registered — though the omission was because of administrative errors and no fault of the voters. The race is the last 2024 statewide election in the nation that remains uncertified.
On Friday, a state appeals court sided with Judge Griffin, ruling that the challenged voters must verify or correct their registration information within a 15-day window or have their ballots thrown out. That ruling was set to take effect at 5 p.m. on Monday. Because many of the affected voters live in Democratic-leaning counties, discarding their ballots could potentially have overturned the results of the election.
Justice Riggs and the North Carolina State Election Board immediately said they would appeal, and asked the State Supreme Court to issue a stay to halt the registration-fixing effort, and to review the appellate court’s ruling. Judge Griffin’s legal team did not oppose the request for a stay, but even so, the higher court waited until Monday to take action.
“The court of appeals cites no precedent — from any court in North Carolina or elsewhere — to support such an initiative nearly half a year after an election,” lawyers for Justice Riggs wrote in their filing. “Worse, the court of appeals’ ruling is destined to disenfranchise thousands of North Carolinians, denying them due process and equal protection under North Carolina law.”
The stunning ruling on Friday sparked confusion among voters and local election officials across the state. County and state election offices were already being contacted on Monday by voters seeking to fix any issues with their ballots.
In a statement Monday afternoon, the North Carolina State Board of Elections said it would issue guidance to local officials about the registration-fixing effort if necessary.
Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said that if the appellate ruling ultimately did take effect, his agency “will provide detailed instructions to the county boards of elections and affected voters on how to comply with the court’s decision.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/us/politics/north-carolina-supreme-court-election-ballots.html
